Review of Ender's Game (2013) by Nathan P — 25 Jun 2014

Ender's Game is a sci-fi thriller that manages to awe due to its intriguing plot and special effects, but manages to fall short in terms of performances of some characters and some plot-holes. So without spoiling too much, EG tells the story of humanity versus an alien species who were locked in war. Humanity won during their last battle but at the cost of many soldiers and they've never fully recovered from it. So a somewhat alternative Starfleet Academy, if you will, recruits young children who are intelligent and gifted in order to be the leaders of the fleet to rid the humans of their plight once and for all.

For every good thing that the plot does, there are also flaws that come up. For example, they never explain why the species attacked and they never even showed the recovery period from the attack; we're expected to believe that they suffered when they had enough mass resources to not only build an entire space station dedicated to training along with hundreds of thousands of ships and a multi-billion dollar weapon of mass destruction? It can be overlooked, but takes you out a bit. They also never give you enough information about the aliens, feeling disconnected of sorts and they don't feel like any real threat. Granted, in the last 10 minutes some light is shed and its fantastic, but it's when the light is shed, you'd wish they had more information on the species. As this movie is adapted from a novel classic, it suffers from the same old 'too much information to put into a movie' scenario where things from the book, and probably important things, are left out but as such, the story becomes a bit disjointed.

In terms of performances, Butterfield is memorable as Wiggin. He has this natural unpredictability about him which serves to compliment his character and the plot. He sells strength, sentiment, weakness and understanding. Not to mention that Wiggin has to be one of the most interesting characters I've come across in a movie in a long time. There's a line that stuck with me, when he describes how he feels about his enemy; that he studies them and learns their habits, but the thing is when he begins to understand them, he grows to love them and as such, refrains from violence as he doesn't want to end up like his brother, Peter who is a violent drop out but at the same time, is not as soft as his sister, Valentine. The layers of Wiggin are multiple and he's a very complex character. Seeing his growth in the two hours from 'launchie' to Commanding officer is utterly satisfying. You see his successes and his failures and you genuinely feel for him. Butterfield manages to bring a great amount of humanity to Wiggin's character and its very welcome.

Harrison Ford is also in the movie as General Graff, who befriends Wiggin and becomes a father-figure of sorts. He throws him off the deep end believing that he's humanity's saviour and as such, is there for both encouraging and demeaning sentiments. Ford puts on a good performance; being menacing when he has to but also being caring, however little he was. But sadly, that's about it. No other characters really stand out, and I don't think this was the actors' fault. Having read the synopsis of the book, these characters were fleshed out way better in the book and as such, would have had more impact. I'm not saying they didn't have, for example, the little love story between Wiggin and Petra was nice; wasn't overdone and it didn't take centre stage, which I enjoyed. But other characters like Rackham and Bonzo were not given enough screen time so they loss impact. I will say that they did an admirable job though, with Valentine and Wiggin's relationship. Even if it was short, I was still completely bought on it and the brother-sister relationship was very sweet. The action was very well done but it's not the kind you'd expect. The various war simulations and training sessions were extremely well done and tense and a spectacle to look it, especially the final battle. That plot twist at the end, though, was a doozie.

Overall, EG was a great movie that was just shy of excellent but I feel as if it's not really anyone's fault as based on the plot and characters, more screen time would have been required. But with an impressive and thought-provoking plot, silky-smooth and impressive action scenes and great special effects, you're in for a ride. Recommended. 8.5/10.